Product Description

Former pizza delivery guy Daniel is speed crazy. Embarking on a new career as a taxi driver, his specially modified car is so fast even police radar can't spot him! When he unwittingly gives a high-speed ride to police officer Emilien, he is forced to accept a deal to keep his license: a stint as Emilien's personal driver. Now on the other side of the law, Daniel becomes the unlikely mastermind behind an investigation into a gang of German bank robbers. Aided by his girlfriend, Emilien's mother and a whole squad of pizza delivery boys, Daniel and Emilien join forces with hilarious consequences to foil the robbers on foot, on scooters and of course in taxis...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16148 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-09-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Synopsis
Written by Luc Besson, TAXI is a fast-paced comedy thriller, in which former pizza delivery guy Daniel (Samy Naceri) embarks on a new career as a taxi driver in his specially-adapted high-speed car. Oblivious to his passenger's day job, he demonstrates his talents to police officer Emilien (Frederic Diefenthal) and consequently Daniel is forced to accept a new role as the personal driver of Emilien's police car. Soon Daniel is in over his head in an adventure that involves German bank robbers, a legion of pizza delivery boys, and much more.

Review
Executive-produced by Luc Besson (The Big Blue) but directed by the far more obscure Gérard Pirès, this anodyne but perfectly amiable buddy movie-cum-policier sets up sexily scar-faced Samy Narceri as a speed-obsessed Marseilles taxi driver who's cajoled into helping clumsy cop Frédéric Diefenthal catch a gang of German bank robbers. The dialogue, characterisation and plotting are as flimsy as a rusty Lada, but they're only padding anyway between the slices of car-chase and motorway action that form the steely infrastructure of the film. These, indeed, are pretty spectacular: impressively fast, they're filmed by either low-slung bumper-mounted cameras to make the road seem perilously close or from helicopters to show just how unfaked the action is, while the generally excellent soundtrack pumps relentlessly on. The final stunt, involving an unfinished motorway overpass, is a real beauty in particular. When not zooming round corners and round asphalt, the characters puzzle dimly over the blindingly obvious ruses of the baddies and make continually frustrated attempts to sleep with their unfeasibly pneumatic love interests. If a French lad's magazine could talk, it would look something like Taxi, which of course will be no bad thing for many a viewer. -- --Leslie Felperin

Customer Reviews

A Cult Classic
This film is a real blast! As far as I'm concerned, Luc Besson can do no wrong. His films have an unerring instinct for entertainment. He is probably better known for action films (like Leon, Nikita and, more recently, Taken) but he brings a sure touch to comedy as well. OK, the plot's daft, it's all in French and you may not recognise many of the actors but, if you're a frustrated boy racer, you're gonna love this! Hey, if you're a successful boy or girl racer, you're gonna love this! I've watched this time and again and, for me, it's taken on the dimensions of a cult classic. If you need to relax and just have a good laugh occasionally, keep this on your DVD shelf.

Very funny
I would agree with the last reviewer that Taxi 2 is definately the better of the two (three!)films, but it's worth watching this one too. As a student of french i find it hard to find a lot of non-depressing french films, and practically impossible to find one that my non french speaking friends want to watch with me, but this goes down a real treat. My friends all love it, and the humour while very french is fantastic for all. Refreshing.

Flag it down!
This is the first in the Taxi Trilogy by Luc Besson.

It is a great fun film, with good action sequences, great French comedy and a decent script. Oh, and the Germans end up look silly :)

Although not as good as Taxi-2, I would still definitely recommend purchasing this film.